EFG

NOTE: You are viewing the beta version of the European Film Gateway. The portal is still under development. We apologise for any problems you might face while using the portal.

The EFG Portal gives you quick and easy access to hundreds of thousands of film historical documents as preserved in European film archives and cinémathèques: photos, posters, programmes, periodicals, censorship documents, rare feature and documentary films, newsreels and other materials. Targeted at scientific researchers and the interested public alike, the EFG offers a look at and behind the scenes of filmmaking in Europe from the early days until today. The EFG facilitates online access to historical documents and leads you directly to the archives that hold the originals.

Discover and immerse yourself in over one hundred years of European film history. Explore films and the diverse materials connected to their production, distribution and reception. Use information and content presented through the European Film Gateway for your work, studies and leisure. Share your discoveries on social networks, in your community, among your friends and colleagues.

EFG and Europeana
The EFG is linked to Europeana.eu, the digital showcase of Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage. Europeana gives access to millions of objects from museums, archives, libraries and audio-visual institutions, thus opening up a space for participation, innovation and creativity. By contributing to Europeana, the EFG unlocks the richness of Europe’s film archives for Europeana users and cinema lovers all over the world.

Behind the portal: The EFG project (Sep 2008 - Aug 2011)

The EFG project was initiated by the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) and the Europeana Foundation and ran from September 2008 through August 2011. The aim of the project, which was carried out jointly by 22 partner institutions (16 archives, 6 other partners), was to build a web portal that gives access to selected archival material held in European film archives. The project addressed a number of key issues for access to digital content, namely, technical and semantic interoperability, metadata standards as well as best practices for rights’ clearance and IPR management of cinematographic works. The Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF e.V. co-ordinated the project. Find more information and outcomes of the project on the EFG project website.

EFG was a Best Practice Network funded by the European Union under the eContentplus programme.

EFG1914 (Feb 2011 - Feb 2014)

EFG1914 is the follow-up project of "EFG - The European FilmGateway". It officially started on 15 February and will run for two years. 25 partners contribute to the project. Among them 20 film archives that will digitise up to 650 hours of film from and about World War I, and make the digitized film collections available on the Internet through the European Film Gateway  and the European digital library Europeana (www.europeana.eu). The EFG1914 project website with more background information can be found at www.project.efg1914.eu.

EFG1914 is supported by the European Union under the ICT-PSP.

Watch the EFG trailer:

Created by: Andrea Meneghelli, Cineteca di Bologna
Music by: Tempelhof